Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Going Pro: Client Journeys

Clients arrive at your doorstep in unexpected ways—when you’re
just starting out, the variance is even greater.The professionalism of your clients, the types of products, and the
trajectory of the process varies wildly. As a new company, that’s a good
thing.You need to develop your
approach to working with clients, as well as define your strengths and weaknesses. But the arrival-- and sometimes departure-- of clients can be mystifying and stressful. We expect the process to unfold a certain way, and it often doesn't.

So as a part of this series I’ll present a few of my
early client journeys in time-condensed form, from initial contact to conclusion.

If you’ve been following these posts, you’ll notice that
I’ve already included a couple client journeys: my first “client” was imaginary…
a promotional video for Schools for Africa that still features prominently in
my portfolio.My second client was a pro
bono piece for a non-profit.

Day 94:An ad popped up on
Craigslist looking for an actor for a 2-minute investor pitch for a boutique shopping service, but also stating
that if the actor knew a videographer they might be interested in hiring them.I thought that was odd.It just that kind of odd fruit, though, that
can act as stepping stone to someplace interesting.So I sent the
poster an email.They were offering the
actor almost nothing, well below what I would deem acceptable for a commercial shoot, so I
made a ridiculously low offer: I’d film it for $150.Based on the ad-- and the time allotted for
the actor-- I reckoned the filming would be about 2 hours.She responded enthusiastically (or perhaps
“emphatically” is more accurate... in a blizzard of CAPITALIZED words).She had an editor in India already; she just
needed a videographer... followed by a ton of questions, ideas, and odd
thoughts.And then she asked if I’d
lower my price since she had an editor.Two
hours of filming for under $150 was, of course, ridiculous.So I said, sure, I’d do it for $100.She booked.

Day 98: My client may be flighty, but she
moves fast.She booked an office space
in an hourly office building.She wanted
to check it out beforehand, so I agreed to meet her there.Some of you dear readers may, at this point,
be calculating my diminishing hourly rate on this project.A hundred dollars for two shooting hours.Add two hours for prep and travel and that’s
$25 an hour. That might not be such a bad rate if you've got a steady 40-hour a week job, but as a consultant it's about one-third of what it should be.Now this pre meeting and
I'm down to about $17/hour.Add the
time it will take to cull the video and match up the audio and I’m closer to
$10/hour. The minimum wage consultant.

I could search for corners to cut on this project, but I believe it’s important to
commit fully to whatever job is in front of you.It’s no good if the client is unhappy because
you were trying to maintain your financial/time boundaries; and you’re really
not doing yourself any favors either.Because you can’t do your best work that way.The final product won’t add to your resume, create
a faithful client, land a new one, or push the boundaries of your skill
level.As long as your client is not
consciously taking advantage of you, give it 100% and let the hours be damned.

The rented office was tiny.It was a good thing we scoped it out ahead of
time, otherwise we would have spent half of our time trying to reconfigure the
tiny space.The walk-thru also informed
my equipment choices.There was room
enough for only one light.We’d have to
balance it against the window light.I’d
also bring a scrim sheet to soften the window if needed.I’d boom the sound from a stand, and wedge
myself in the corner to get the widest angle.

We sat down for coffee afterwards
to discuss the video and get on the same page.She was immensely grateful for my commitment, and said she’d pay my
original fee.I guess I’m back up to
$15/hour.Woohoo.

Day 99:I spent a couple of hours with the 2-page
script today.It was basically two dense
chunks of monologue.She decided that
she wanted two actors to read it-- which I thought was a good thing-- but it
didn’t become a dialogue just because the lines were divided between them.They were sharing a presentation.Set in an office, with little back and forth
between the characters, and no physical actions beyond found a few places where
it moving closer would clarify and intensify the message.I also marked the “beats” in the script.In acting, a spoken beat essentially
is a fully expressed thought.You can
also have silent beats between to mark transitions.

Day 100: Shooting day.I arrived early and found the actors already
in the office.We chatted a bit as I set
up.The client arrived about 10 minutes
late.Filming was by most measures a bit
rough.The actors had had relatively
little time to learn the script, so we stopped and started constantly. The
client wasn’t exactly directing and had very little knowledge of how the pieces
would fit together in the editing.I did
my best to shoot for where I would put the cuts, and occasionally interjected
direction.But squished in the corner,
managing lights, sound, and camera, and with limited knowledge of the script
myself, there was only so much I could do in terms of directing the actors for
tone and pacing.It became clear that
most of the cuts would be to cover mistakes.We went over our 2-hour time slot by about 20 minutes, but everyone
finished happy.

Day 121: The client, pleased with how we worked together, booked me for another shoot on a similar project, this time a line of boutique coat hangers for luxury hotels. My $100/day project became a $300 project. Lessons learned? If you have time, go for the odd projects (they're often really fun). Once you commit to a price, don't hold back-- commit 100% to the work, even if the hours run over. Scope out your locations even when your under a time/budget crunch.

Me Me Me

Ian Robin Walker runs Hurricane Images, a San Francisco / Bay Area photography studio that specializing in Products, Portraits, Entertainment, and Wedding photography. My work is driven by a strong, personal connection with my clients in order to provide truly unique images.

What about me?

Born in North Hampton, Massachusetts/ was told I should be an actor/ spent 25 years working as a theatre director/ created light designs for more than three dozen productions/ started writing plays/ started winning awards/ realized I had always been a photographer when I discovered photographs of me at the age of 11 with a camera in my hands/ began photographing publicity photos for performing artists and theater companies/ started having my photos published major magazines/ met you here, today.

I create high impact imagery in a calm and professional atmosphere that places clients at ease. I am interested in photographing what is unique about you. The majority of my clients are individuals; my business clients include Second Wind Productions, Albany Records, Impact Assessment Inc., the California Department of Public Health, International Musician and Engineering World Magazine, Underground Runway, JB Enterprises, and Triple Shot Productions.